Billed as the company’s largest rollout of modular products, Agilent Technologies introduced a total of 47 modular instruments and chassis at the 2010 AUTOTESTCON show in Orlando, FL. The introduction included scopes, digitizers, function and arbitrary waveform generators, a pattern generator, digital IO, spectrum analyzers, RF signal generators, and a variety of switching modules. All modules incorporate instrument drivers and software tools to help develop test systems using popular software platforms.
An 18-slot, 4U PXIe chassis featuring 16 hybrid slots was demonstrated at the show. Also on display were two AXIe chassis, a two-slot and a five-slot, both fully compliant with Version 1.0 of the AXIe specification. They feature an embedded system module that provides Gigabit LAN and PCIe Gen 2 x8 interfaces for connecting the chassis to an external controller.
Scopes and Digitizers
Highlighting the collection of new scope modules is the M9210A, a two-channel digitizing scope with 10-bit resolution and a maximum sampling rate of 2 to 4 GS/s. Also in this category are the N2100B 10.3125-Gb/s Digital Communications Analyzer with 12-bit resolution and a 160-MS/s sampling rate and the M9202A and M9211A one-channel IF digitizers with bandwidths of 1 GHz and 3 GHz, respectively.
Arbs
Under the function and arbitrary waveform generator heading are the two-channel M9330A and M9331A Arbs, both with 500-MHz bandwidth per channel. Resolution is 15 bits for the M9330A and 10 bits for the M9331A.
Spectrum and Signal Analyzers
This category includes six modules: the M9392A Microwave Vector Signal Analyzer with a 50-MHz to 26.5-GHz frequency range and a 250-MHz analysis bandwidth, two one-slot downconverters, a two-slot local oscillator with a 3-GHz to 10-GHz frequency range, an attenuator/preselector that provides a 100-kHz to 26.5-GHz frequency range, and the M9202A IF Digitizer with a 2-GS/s sampling rate.
RF Signal Generators
The M9302A Local Oscillator and the N2099B RF Synthesizer and Clock Source are both two-slot modules. The oscillator supports a 3-GHz to 10-GHz frequency range, output power of 16 dBm with an accuracy of ±2 dB, and a 1-ms switching speed. The N2099B used with both the new N2102B Pattern Generator and the N2101B Bit Error Ratio Tester can provide either a 5.25 ±1 GHz or 10.5 ±1 GHz frequency range and a switching speed of 100 ms.
Switches
This listing starts with general-purpose units including two SPDT switches, two SPST switches, and an SPST power relay providing typical switching speeds from 3 ms to 10.5 ms.
A series of one-slot, high-density multiplexers offers a maximum voltage of 100 V and typical switching speeds from 500 µs to 3 ms. The M9101A has 64 two-wire channels, the M9102A 128 one-wire channels, and the M9103A 99 two-wire channels.
Three matrix switches, including the M9121A high-density reed-relay module with a switching speed of 1 ms, are available in a one-slot configuration. M9120A and M9122A, the two electromechanical matrices, have a 3-ms switching speed.
In microwave switching, there are three choices, all with a frequency range of DC to 26.5 GHz, 50-? impedance, and SMA (f) connectors. The M9155C Dual SPDT Switch occupies one PXI-H slot, the M9156C Dual Transfer Switch two slots, and the M9157C Single SP6T Switch three slots.
The RF switches use SMB connectors and occupy one PXI slot. The M9128A RF Matrix Switch has a 300-MHz frequency range. In addition, eight RF multiplexers provide a 3-GHz frequency range, typical insertion loss varying from 1 dB to 2.1 dB, and impedance of 50 ? or 75 ?.